Women Station House Officers appointed in Pakistan’s Punjab police stations
Move to ensure ‘gender justice,’ change public opinion about police in the province
ISLAMABAD: Appointment of women as Station House Officers (SHOs) in Punjab police stations has come as a major step towards ‘gender justice’ and is aimed at restoring the image of police in the eyes of the public.
Punjab Police Inspector General Aamir Zulfiqar Khan has directed that at least one police station of every district in Punjab, women officers should be appointed as SHOs, in-charge investigation.
The Punjab police official twitter handle posted a tweet that announced Amir Zulfiqar gave a standing order to increase number of women SHOs in Punjab within the next 5 days.
“It is a major step towards gender justice for Women in Police as well as for all women & gender minorities of Pakistan.”
According to the IG Punjab the recruitment quota for women in the police force will be increased by 25 per cent and the posting quota for women SHOs will also be enhanced district-wise.
Addressing the first Provincial Women Police Conference held in collaboration with Punjab Police, the Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Lahore, the IGP said that the ratio of women in the population of Punjab province was high, while the representation in the police force was low. “This deficiency will be fulfilled soon,” he said.
The IGP further said that problems of women police employees are well understood and all possible steps will be taken to solve them.
‘Much-needed step’
After the IGP orders, a number of districts in Punjab have announced their women SHOs and the people, particularly women in those districts, have welcomed this step as long-awaited and much-needed.
In the remote district of Layyah in South Punjab, for the first time a woman a Christian lady Sub-Inspector Asiya Sarfaraz has been appointed SHO of Tehsil Chaubara.
“This has been unprecedented as previously we have had the women District Police Officers (DPOs) but at SHO level who deals public and criminal elements directly never such an appointment has been made, said a journalist from Layyah Abid Farooqi while talking to Gulf News on Saturday.
In another district of Punjab, Jhang, Sub-Inspector Ruqayya Raza, in Chiniot, Sub-Inspector Laraib Shahid and in Lodhran Sub-Inspector Fauzia Sehar are among the police officers whose appointments are being seen as “winds of change” in police department of tbe province and women now feel quite confident to approach them for resolution of their complaints.